Decent lingcod catches on Sunday opener in Puget Sound

The lingcod fishery opened Sunday, and catches of the toothy creatures was very good.

“We got out (Sunday) and (Monday), and the lingcod fishing is as good as it gets,” said Gary Krein, owner of All-Star Charters in Everett. “We had our lingcod and I know the other boats around us also were doing well too.”

“It appears there are some just barely legal fish, and others that are some barely legal-size (minimum size limit is 26 inches, and the maximum size limit is 36 inches) so that age class of lingcod seems to be very strong,” Krein said. “We released five lings that were an inch of being legal size.”

On Sunday, Krein’s clients kept eight lingcod, and landed 11 legal size fish, and released another dozen under sized ones.

“It looks like it be a fairly decent season for lingcod, and should be good for a week or two, and will then start to clam down as we run into the less dumber ones,” Krein said.

Here is a sample from the boat ramps on how anglers fared around Puget Sound for May 1 lingcod opener:

About the author

A Seattle native, Mark Yuasa is a lifelong angler who grew up near the banks of Lake Washington and has been covering fishing and outdoors for more than 21 years for The Seattle Times. Read his regular fishing report every Thursday and the outdoor notebook every Sunday.